During the month of November, the Assistant General for Latin America, Father Alexander Lam, made a visitation of renewal to the Vicariate of the Antilles.
Six houses, some 26 friars, 11 parishes and two schools are distributed among the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Texas.
“The work that the Vicariate is carrying out is very beautiful and impressive. They are also trying to respond to the guidelines given by the Order to promote community life, although there is still a long way to go in this regard”, Father Lam tells us upon his return to Rome. “Our friars have very abundant pastoral work and this always means added fatigue. But all in all, I think the work being done in the Vicariate is impressive.”
Bridging oceans, building homes
The Parish of Jesus Christ the High and Eternal Priest, in the city of La Vega, Dominican Republic, has for years now become a bridge between the legacy of the missionary work of the Spanish friars who are still there and the Augustinians of this young vicariate. Thanks to a partnership initiative between the parish and the support of the Province of St. John of Sahagún, new homes for families without means are being built.
“The objective of this initiative, Copadesa, is to promote intimacy and dignity within the family” in the face of problems such as the overcrowding suffered by many impoverished communities on the islands. This project is also supporting students with the sponsorship of school supplies to help them cope with day-to-day school life. Father Victor Fernandez, bursar of the Province of San Juan de Sahagún, has been going there frequently, as Father Alexander Lam tells us, “to encourage and accompany all the work that is being done”.
Challenges in the Caribbean and Texas
“It is a young vicariate in terms of age and small in number, yes, but it has many possibilities,” Father Lam points out.
The economic centralization for a better distribution of the available resources, the management and efficiency of the apostolic works, the care of the vocation ministry, the attention to our older fathers and accompaniment “of the friars so that each one is not so isolated in his parish”, are some of the main challenges that the Order faces daily in the Vicariate of the Antilles.
The Vicariate is located in territories that reflect very different socio-economic circumstances, such as the reality of Texas, and the current situation in Puerto Rico, which has suffered a sharp decline in the birth rate in recent years, or the permanent tensions between the borders of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In this aspect, Father Lam points out that although “there is willingness on the part of the friars to make a path of closeness and fraternity, it continues to be an ongoing project”.
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